Upsampling 1080i DVD player review - Zenith DVB318 vs HTPC

It was about that time that I had noticed a new DVD player from Zenith (DVB 318) that had the ability to upscale regular DVD movies to 1080i AND deliver that signal on the component video outputs. This second feature is especially important for the BenQ 6200 series of projectors because they don't have a DVI digital input. They can, however, accept a component video input (YPbPr) running at a resolution of 1080i (roughly double the regular DVD picture resolution of 480p). This player is one of the very few that can do this, using the top notch Faroudja chip for upconversion, and apparently has the best quality output amongst competitors.

My first impression was that it had a simple, clean appearance and a low profile that allowed it to fit very neatly into the top shelf of my home theater console. Most important, it had the upconversion button right on the front of the unit. Don't get confused by synonymous terms: whether you call it upscaling, upsampling, upconverting, it all ads up to the same thing - the interpolation of existing video information at a lower resolution to create a higher level of detail that simulates HDTV quality. This unit uses the Faroudja chip to do the upscaling.

So I plugged it in, connected it to the component inputs on my projector (the BenQ PB6200 doesn't have digital input), and fired it up. The unit greets you with a friendly "hello" on the unit display, and the video starts up with a Zenith splash screen at the regular 480p resolution, before you insert the DVD. I hit the upconversion button to see what would happen, the projector immediately switched to 720p, and I could see a definite increase in the sharpness of the picture. Holding my breath, I hit the upconversion button again and, lo and behold, the projector snapped into 1080i mode and the screen definition improved once again to what I thought was a very sharp picture indeed.

Here are some close-up screenshots of the 3 resolution steps. Please keep in mind these were shot with a digital camera, compressed into jpeg files, and resized for the net, so you won't actually see what I'm seeing on the screen with my own eyes, but it will give you an idea of the difference nevertheless:



The picture on the left is 480p, the center is the upscaled result at 720p, and the right hand picture is the result of upconversion to 1080i. The difference is especially apparent if you compare the jaggies (arrow) on the angled edge at the left side of the picture.

The BenQ 6200 projector very nicely pops up a little window displaying source information briefly in the corner of the screen every time you change the source input, and there it was: 

Analog YPbPr @ 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz

Ok, so now I was getting excited, and I popped my Step Into Liquid DVD into the machine and hit the play button. Would it look good, I thought? Would the full Dolby surround come through?

As the DVD spun up, a crystal clear picture appeared, my Dolby receiver locked into decode mode, and I was watching Laird Hamilton riding inside the curl of a 50 foot wave in perfectly clear, sharp detail, with a kilowatt of 8 channel sound shaking the foundation of my home ... finally!

So that's it folks, we've been enjoying brilliant results ever since, and I feel we've reached an affordable level of performance that will last us for some time, until the new true high definition formats arrive. A few final conclusions are in order here:

-You can save money and time and still get great results with the BenQ/Zenith/rolled screen combination. 
-If you go the HTPC route, get the fastest machine you can afford, and buy from a company that will guarantee the results.

I haven't bothered purchasing an HDTV cable or satellite box because there just isn't enough interesting content available yet. We find that playing DVD is the best way to watch movies on the big screen - definitely the best quality, and it's nice to control when and how many times you watch.

We watch 2 or 3 films a week, and gave up going to the local video store; it's too much hassle. For a monthly fee of around $17.00 you can choose from thousands of movie titles at online stores such as Netflix. The first three available titles you choose get sent to your home, and when one DVD is returned, the next DVD on your list is sent. 

This is the end of this article series for now, but I'll be upgrading when that happens, or when the new HDTV DVD format arrives, so stay tuned. I hope the information was helpful for your own quest; happy viewing to you! (for complementary home automation products such as lighting control and motorized blinds and shades, see our home automation DIY kit article)